Two students recently expressed their concern to me about a class they were taking at a local Christian University in which the instructor opened her prayer with the words, “Our Father God, our Mother God….” Upon asking a few more question, I discovered that this teacher wasn’t promoting a pantheon of multiple gods, but was trying to be sensitive to those in her audience who might have had a bad experience with their earthly fathers, and so had difficulty understanding and accepting God as “Father.” So, apparently, the use of both “Father” and “Mother” by the instructor was an attempt to make God more accessible to everyone.Â
Is this appropriate? Is it okay to refer to God as either “Father” or “Mother,” or is there a biblical case for only referring to God as “Father?” What is God–male, female, a combination of the two, or something else altogether?
Throughout both the Old and New Testaments male language is the primary language used about God. The Greek word theos, meaning God, is unquestionably masculine. In fact, most analogies used for God in the Bile are male images. So, is God male?
YES?
Suppose you were to answer, “Yes, God is male.� One immediate question in our minds might then hover around the nature of image of God in humanity (Genesis 1-2). If God is male, and humanity is made in the image of God, do human males share more of the image of God than do females? Not according to the Bible. There is equal standing between males and females before God (Galatians 3:28), and both appear to equally reflect God’s image into the world (Genesis1:27).
NO?
Suppose you were to answer, “No, God is not male.� Then does this mean that He is female, or some kind of hybrid? We must answer, no, here again. Why? Because the category of sex or gender (male & female) is a category that does not apply to God. Why not? Because He is not a physical being. He is spirit (John 4:24). Gender is a category that can only apply to beings which are (1) created, and (2) physical. Then whey does the Bible use male language for a being for whom gender is a inapplicable category?
DOESÂ MALE LANGUAGE INÂ THE BIBLE MEAN GOD IS MALE?
All theological language (language used to describe God) is analogical in nature. It uses analogies. We use the vocabulary of images in our world to describe something which ultimately lies beyond our world. We must be careful never to reduce God to the level of a created object or being. By using analogy to describe God, we are saying that there is a likeness or correspondence between God and a particular thing. And so the thing becomes a signpost to God. It is like God, but it is not identical to God.Â
SHOULD WE ADDRESS GOD AS “MOTHER”?
The Bible does at times employ female characteristics to describe God. For instance, God uses the analogy of a mother eagle’s care and protection of her young to describe His actions on behalf of Israel (Exodus 19:4; Deuteronomy 32:11). Likewise, when speaking of the soon coming destruction of Jerusalem, Jesus likens himself to a mother hen longing to gather her chicks under her feathers (Matthew 23:37). Then, can’t we refer to God as our Heavenly Mother?Â
I don’t think that we have a biblical precedent for addressing God as our Heavenly Mother. The clearest example that we do have for how we should address God is given by Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount when he tells his disciples to address God as “Our Father in heavenâ€? (Matthew 6:9). All four of the biblical biographies of Jesus use the word “Fatherâ€? as applied to God more than twice as often as in the rest of the New Testament. In fact, the Gospel of John alone employs it 107 times. Clearly, this is the biblical pattern for how we ought to speak of and address God as “Fatherâ€?. Never, however, do we see the example of “Motherâ€? as God’s address. As a bit of a side note, I suspect that one reason for this is that maternal images carry with them the idea of giving birth out of oneself (as we often see in pantheistic eastern religions). The Bible is very clear that we are creations of God, and not emanations or outgrowths of God’s essence. Though we reflect certain attributes of His, we do not share his same nature.
SO WHAT ABOUT BAD RELATIONSHIPS WITH EARTHLY FATHERS
What about the person who has had a bad experience with his or her early father, and so struggles to understand God as their Heavenly Father? The real issue is, who should accommodate whom—ourselves or God? If I have an emotional problem with thinking of God as King or Captain of my life, I would suggest that I have no option but to overcome that personal distaste. In fact, I do have an emotional dislike to someone else having authority over my life—it’s called sin. I recoil from the idea of repentance. But, because this is what God demands, I must submit myself to Him as the sovereign of my life.
Consider a parallel example. Suppose as a woman, you have had a bad experience with a fiancé or husband. Maybe he was unfaithful or abusive. Would that experience give you the warrant to reject the biblical image that our hope is in our God is a bridegroom (fiancé and husband) who will make us his bride? This image employed of bridegroom and bride speaks to the most intimate level of relationship that we will obtain with our God (Ezekiel 16:8-14; Matthew 25:1-13). It seems to me that I would be more impoverished if, because of an emotional handicap, I refuse to let this reality nurture my imagination and soul.
People have always had bad experiences with their fathers or husbands—both now and in biblical times. But rather than allowing those experiences to rob us of these rich images given by God to describe Himself (Father, King, Master, Bridegroom, etc.), I think we are called to allow our hurtful experiences to be transformed by God’s perfect representation of these figures. Refusing to call God my Father is the easy way out of dealing with pain in my life. I must permit the power of Christ to renovate and redeem my broken relationships. This is not easily done. But it is what is involved in becoming a son or daughter of our perfect Father in Heaven.
What do you think?
10 Comments on “Is God male?”
Thanks Brent. Well said. Thank you for the last paragraph especially as that seems to speak aptly to the situation.
When the bible was written in the original language, was God referred to in a particular gender, or is that a result of translation? In our English language, I think we need to refer to God as a gender, because in all that he is and all that he as done, with all that he feels for people, he certainly is not an IT; I don’t believe agape love can come from an “it,” and I’m not so sure the idea of a gender is exclusive to the English language.
I think feminism helped give the idea of a female God; I had a non-believing professor at college that liked to refer to “any god that might be up there” as “she.”
My thought on God being thought of as an Almighty Father is this…if someone has been emotionally wounded by someone here on earth that was supposed to be their father, and it has left that person with distain toward the thought of another Father Figure, perhaps they could find comfort in a heavenly Father that would never abandon them or emotionally wound them.
A lot of people have been wounded by their earthly mothers as well; it goes both ways.
That is excellent.
It is not only fathers who have injured, but I know of those who would have as difficult a time using mother. We have to look at him as the perfect father, which even those with a great dad have not experienced.
What of a person, a little girl, who’s been sexually, physically and emotionally tormented and abused by both mother and father? A little girl who’s been ritually abused for the first 5 years of her life? We’re talking more then an “emotional bad experience.” You cannot possibly judge what this person has been through and thousands like her. You cannot begin to know How distorted her reality is. The sin she carries is not her own. God knows her pain and experience and understands what she must do to get through a moment, an hour, a day, a season, etc. I think the church really struggles in this area. I think the church fails in this area. Why? Because there’s NO way to understand unless you have lived it or walked alongside someone recovering from it. This would be my challenge to the “bride” of God. Don’t lump bad situations into one category, don’t turn your back on those that seem to be “allowing” past experiences to rob them of joy. It’s not a choice. It’s all they know. Christ would gently guide them into truth, with patience, compassion and time.
I’m sorry, but I do have to say one more thing regarding this subject. I’m very passionate about this. There is ‘no’ easy way out from a life filled w/ abuse. God has many names and “Father” is just one of them. If God knows us before we’re born, knows our pain and struggle, He most certainly understands if we choose to call Him by one of his many other names, even for just a season. If you read any book on childhood abuse/development, you’ll read that the foundations of what we believe and feel about the world, God, people, etc. are formed in the first very fragile years of life. God allowed those very fragile years to be about abuse and so in turn, allows grace to be present in healing from it.
Melody,
I think all that Marlys was saying is that God can be the comforting Father when an earthly father or mother has failed. We were both acknowledging the fact that people can be indeed wounded by either a male or female.
I don’t see where anyone did this:
“Don’t lump bad situations into one category, don’t turn your back on those that seem to be “allowingâ€? past experiences to rob them of joy.”
We were acknowledging those who have been hurt by others, and I for one know that it is not within our control when bad things happen to us by another human being’s actions. But God’s love can come from not only himself, but through those that he puts in our lives that would never hurt us!
Love,
Amanda
Amanda,
I was responding more to the original post by Pastor Brent. If you re-read it, you’ll see where I chose my words. I’m not taking offense, just reiterating, from experience.
Melody
Thanks Brent! Very well said. That last paragraph is perfect in light of the issues that have come up recently.
Some provocative comments – and some good theological reflection.
As the professor referred to in the original question, I’d just like to add that my reason for using Father AND Mother in my prayer was not quite as intuited by the student, but because I try to approach good theological reality as I can. Although I grew up with all male images, I’ve come to 1.) appreciate the female images in scripture – many more than Brent mentioned (see Phylis Tribble’s God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality as well as many other credible scholars). For instance, the decription of woman as “helpmate” for man in Genesis uses a word than is only used of God as our Helper in other Scriptures. It’s not an “assistant” word! and, 2.) more importantly, remind myself and others with my use of language that “God is not a man.” (sorry, I don’t have a concordance with me for the reference just now). “God is a Spirit and those who worship God must worship God in spirit and in truth.” (Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman). Together we’re made in God’s image (plural nouns and verbs in the creation narrative in Genesis). Alone — we are only a part of God’s image.
Judi,
Thank you for your response. Rather than just repeat my original arguments, I’d be interested to read your responses to them. I don’t see how your above statements, given my original post, address the question of, “Is it biblically appropriate to address God as “Mother�?